In the Middle of the Night Read Online Free Page A

telephone calls or letters or newspaper stories.He had played intramural basketball; didn’t win any games but didn’t goof and lose any, either. He had a small part in a school pageant about the American Revolution, as a minuteman, carrying a musket. Had six lines and remembered them all. Had a best friend, Harvey Snyder, who turned him on to Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novels and the exploits of Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer and the others, more than forty books waiting to be read. Most of all, there was Chloe Epstein. His first sort-of girlfriend. Met her at his first school dance ever. Eighth grade, wore his father’s blue and white striped tie, stood uncomfortably against a wall as the DJ spun the records. Girls’ choice. Chloe asked him to dance, after crossing the big gym floor toward him. “Don’t say no—I’d be so humiliated,” she said. Danced, both of them awkward at first, stumbling, then finding a beat, a rhythm, at last. She smelled of peppermint all over. Her cheek touched his and he melted with tenderness. Later they talked, and next day talked again, oh, about everything. Chloe was Jewish, Denny Catholic. He had never met a Jewish person before and she had never really
talked
to a Catholic. They exchanged facts about religion, surprised at all the similarities—Hanukkah and Christmas; bar mitzvah and confirmation; Passover and Easter.
    Small and dark and energetic, she was like a hummingbird, going sixty miles an hour while standing still. Eager, talkative, on the move. Let’s do this, let’s do that. They wrote notes to each other. She signed one:
love.
Which made his heart a dancer, a line from one of his father’s old records. All of it wonderful. Until it happened. Damn it.
    Shaking off that particular thought, he got up andheaded back to school, taking his time, because his next class was a study period and Mr. Armstrong played it loose with attendance.
    At the school steps, he was stopped by Jimmy Burke, one of the few students Denny knew by name. Jimmy was senior class president and had given a “Welcome to Norman” speech at the academy’s opening ceremonies. He’d seemed like a nice guy, the right combination of confidence and modesty, as he’d stood on the stage.
    “You’re Denny Colbert, right?”
    Denny nodded, flinching a bit. He wondered whether he had been found out already.
    “Listen, we’re organizing a new Student Council this year,” Jimmy Burke said. “And we’re looking for two representatives from each class. Would you be interested?”
    “Why me?” Denny asked, genuinely puzzled.
    “You’re new here. And we need new blood, new ideas.”
    “I don’t know,” Denny said. Classic stall. He didn’t want to serve on the Student Council at Norman. He had seen a book one day in the Barstow Public Library titled A
Separate Peace.
Later, he had thought: I’ve declared a separate peace. That’s what he wanted to say to Jimmy Burke. But didn’t, of course.
    Stepping back from Denny and pointing to the residence and the two classroom buildings, Jimmy Burke said: “Everything looks normal at Normal Prep, right?” Shaking his head sadly, he said, “Wrong. This is a great school. No drugs, no guns. But we’ve still got problems. Guys who want to take over, pushing people around, intimidating young kids. It happens at other schools, too. But it’s moredamaging here. We’re small, only two hundred students. Everything gets magnified …”
    Denny had not noticed the problems Jimmy Burke talked about. But he hadn’t noticed very much, really.
    He said, “I’ve got a lot of studying to do, trying to catch up. I don’t think I’d have time for the council.”
    Jimmy Burke nodded thoughtfully. Then a frown creased his forehead and his eyes lowered. But he looked up immediately, eyes bright again with hope, possibilities. “Look, don’t give me a definite answer right now … Think about it …”
    Denny admired guys like Jimmy Burke who passionately